Pune Blog: Paddy Sadler's thoughts from the tour to India
When I sat down to write this blog I promised myself one thing – not to mention food as much as Sparkie did in the first article! We are now about half way through our trip to India, and I think it is fair to say all the squad (pictured above at Pune Cricket Club) are enjoying it immensely.
The intensity of practice has been very high and everybody has been working very hard in all the sessions that have been put in front of us.
Monday morning began with a session at a gym very different to anything I had seen before. It was extremely busy and had its own mixing decks (controlled by DJ Abs!) making it more like a nightclub than David Lloyd!
After a couple of days intensive training, it was good for us to do a few maintenance weights and a bit of core work in order to make sure our bodies are in a good condition to carry on working at the level we have been.
Morning practice involved a fielding session based largely on technical work, although we finished with some more game-realistic drills. The new conditions caused a few difficulties, which was again a sign of how much of a challenge it is to play cricket in this part of world.
In the afternoon, we had a centre-wicket practice, which let the batters get a good hit in the middle, aided by the setting of various scenarios against different bowlers. We used some of the local bowlers in this practice, which gave us seamers an afternoon in the field to rest our legs. All the batters seemed to be hitting the ball nicely and enjoying the flat wicket, while in the field it was good to put the skills we had worked on in the morning to the test in what was effectively a game situation.
Yesterday evening finished with the latest round of the team challenges, something which is really demonstrating the competitiveness of all the guys!
Today we returned to the nets for a full-on session this morning. The contrasting reactions of us bowlers and the batters to the fact we were given some brand new balls to bowl with was as expected, with the ‘bowlers' union’ delighted to get the chance to get something more out of the wickets!
We quickly realised how hard it is to keep the ball in a good condition on these wickets but, boosted by the coaching of Geoff Lawson (pictured left, with me in listening mode) from earlier in the week, we all ran in hard and it was a high-quality session.
The opportunity to work with a guy like Geoff was outstanding and an experience we all really enjoyed. He worked very closely with all the bowlers, making subtle changes to aspects of our bowling and really talking in great detail about the tactical side of the game. It is impossible not to learn from guys like Geoff with his experience, and it was certainly a couple of days’ hard work that will stand us in good stead.
Practice continued in the afternoon, allowing everybody to get all the batting and bowling done that they needed to, and once again to maximise the practice we could get out of the day. The day ended with the now standard trip to the pool, before returning to the hotel - and massages for the bowlers.
So far the trip has clearly been very beneficial to all involved and we are all working very hard, considering the intensity of the programme and the heat. Daily weight and hydration tests are showing us the effects the heat is having on us and showing the importance of looking after ourselves off the park.
Our first game is on Thursday, so we will carry on working towards that, looking forward to testing ourselves against some local opposition.
Paddy Sadler, 30 March 2010
